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I realize I’m a few weeks behind with this, but it’s still January so HAPPY 2014 EVERYONE! Last year was a year of complete growth and restructuring for me. Baby #2 and a new home will do that to you! And, while I’m incredibly grateful for all the joy and the change that 2013 brought, I was also super ready for this New Year to begin. I think I was ready like last July actually!

So I’ll start this post with a confession. Last year I had every intention of going through a great (I mean GREAT!) goal setting process that Lara Casey featured on her blog for the New Year. I read all the posts in January, started the steps (I think I made it to #3 of 14) and I even went so far as to print out the entire series and put everything in it’s own little folder. (Yes, I realize how wasteful that is but I’m a total paper girl!) And then, after all that, I kept “set 2013 goals” as an action item on my incredibly unrealistic to-do list for the entire year. I’m not even kidding. All. Year. Long.

That’s kind of how things went for me last year. Lots of great stuff that I wanted to do on my mind and my to-do list, yet not a lot of checking off or completing going on. And I’ll give myself a little credit, because I did have a one month old and a three year old at the beginning of 2013. Plus I orchestrated a super huge move and got us settled into our new home in the middle of the year, so it wasn’t like the whole year was a loss. Just a lot of the things I wanted to do for myself and for my business that seemed to be brushed to the side. So just imagine how happy I was to see Lara’s series, with improvements even, on her blog again this year. This year I’m ready!

So I’ve taken some time over the last few weeks to work my way through the steps and I’m happy to report that I now have ten well thought out goals and a plan of how to make those goals happen this year. I won’t bore you with all of them or even how they came to be but I did want to share one little part of the process with you. One of the steps is to select a word to represent your year and this year my word is “do.” I feel like I’ve spent the last couple years planning, getting ready for, and dreaming about what I want my life to be like. And then I held all these things in my heart because I didn’t feel that I was enough or that I had the ability or time to make these things a reality. Bottom line, I can’t tell you how good it feels to have a plan and how excited and ready I am for this year!

For 2014, I actually went a step further from finding my word and I have a quote that goes along with it to serve as a sort of motto. Last year, my motto was borrowed from Emily Ley’s “I will hold myself to a standard of grace, not perfection.” (Geez, I still love those words so much!) This year I borrowed from Diana Nyad’s words “Find a way.” Most of the obstacles that I need to overcome to conquer these goals (from a husband’s busy work schedule, to two adorable little ones who still need me 24/7, to stepping out of my own way and realizing that I really have it in me to work these things out) are still there. But this year I’m going to do my best to find a way to make the important things in my heart happen and I have a plan to do just that.

If you’re not familiar with Lara Casey, I really recommend following her work and maybe setting some goals of your own if you haven’t already. (This goal setting process that she has is so good! And she does mention several times in the blog posts that it doesn’t matter if it’s January, or July, or November…start anytime!) Visit her blog for more information.

Wishing everyone a fantastic 2014! Let’s all find a way to make our dreams happen this year!

At 7:32am on Wednesday, November 28, we welcomed Jameson Walter Meinhardt into our little family! He arrived at a hearty 9 pounds 15.1 ounces and 21.5 inches, which means that all the newborn sized clothes we had for him didn’t even stand a chance! Although we’re a little blurry-eyed from lack of sleep, the whole family is adjusting well and ever so happy that he’s here!

I have a few blog posts planned in the next few weeks, but will otherwise be back to work full-time on January 1. I’m still checking emails though, so feel free to email me at kristy@kristymeinhardtweddings.com if you need anything.

Wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving and start of the holiday season! It’s early in the morning on Thanksgiving Day and, as I write this, I’m still pregnant. I’m pretty tired, but extremely grateful to have my husband at home and my in-laws in town. They’ve all been a huge help! I’m also thankful that I had the time and energy this week to do our grocery shopping for today’s meal, plan out our table, put together a cute pumpkin centerpiece (that’s it pictured above) and even bake a few pies. All things I love about this time of year! (Side note: I pinned a great recipe on Pinterest from A Beautiful Mess for a brownie pecan pie and I can’t WAIT to taste it! I’ll let you know if it’s good, but really…how could it not be?!)

After David and I got married, Thanksgiving quickly became “our” holiday in the Meinhardt home. He’s a fire fighter and works his fair share of holidays, but we try to take vacation around Thanksgiving every year to visit our family since they all live out of town and start some family traditions of our own. I thought I’d share one tradition that I started a few years ago…our “I am thankful for” cards.

As I get closer to d-day in this pregnancy (I’m due Nov. 28, but I honestly feel like I could pop any day!), I wanted to write a short post on what my plans are and what you can expect from me over the next few months.

I plan to slow down for “maternity leave” beginning Nov. 1 to give me time to focus on the final preparations for this little guy’s arrival. After the baby comes, I will devote the month of December to my family. (For some reason, I must like the craziness of having holiday babies. In addition to welcoming our new arrival around Thanksgiving, my daughter’s third birthday is a few days before Christmas. I’m sure that won’t be stressful in the coming years!)

Although I won’t be as available as I usually am starting next month, I will still check email and voicemail on a regular basis. If you contact me, I maybe won’t be as quick to respond, but you can still expect a reply as soon as I can possibly get to it. Should be within a few days max.

I’ll continue to be present within my social media networks as much as possible, including on my Facebook page, Pinterest, Instagram and here on the blog. And as soon as I have a picture of the most handsome boy in the universe, know that it will be posted across them all!

Baring any unexpected difficulties, I plan to be back in full-force on January 1.

I’m of course a planner at heart so I’m finding the “not-knowing” a little frustrating, even the second time around. If you need to contact me, please still do. I promise to get back in touch with you as soon as I possibly can. And if you’re among the lucky couples getting engaged this holiday season, congrats! I can’t wait to talk with you about your wedding!

This past July, I celebrated my 39th birthday (I know, yikes!) and I decided to honor the last year of my thirties by starting a gratitude project that I had seen on Pinterest. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while now; I just needed to create the time.

For the project, I’m using my Instagram account to take a picture of something I’m grateful for each day for an entire year. When I first saw the idea, I knew it would be a good way to force myself to take a step back and say thank you on a daily basis, since I truly believe that when you show gratitude for the abundance of greatness that’s already in your life, you just draw more of the same into your experiences. Plus I just like the idea of having a collection of pictures that represent all the things I love the most at the end of the year. Maybe I’ll do a book…

Well here I am, finally checking in with my blog…a few whole MONTHS since the debut of my new website and my last post. I sort of feel like I’m in trouble at school and I need to explain myself, so here goes.

Earlier this year, shortly after I began the process of designing my website with the great guys at 2BlokesDesign, I discovered that I was pregnant with my second child. It wasn’t a total surprise, as my husband and I really want another child and this was most definitely planned. Yet this pregnancy has almost completely turned my life upside down. Come to find out, I was pretty darn functional when I was pregnant the first time. I worked the entire pregnancy and actually did SEVEN weddings at Elliston during my eighth month. (And they were great weddings, big belly and all!) This pregnancy, however, has been the complete opposite of functional. I’ve been sick, exhausted and otherwise a big hot mess from the very beginning. I just passed the six-month mark and all the while, my biggest full-time job is still as a stay-at-home mom to a rather active two-and-a-half-year-old.

So, to make a long story even longer, we finished the website in May and since then I’ve been forced to slow down a bit. Many of the things I was working on to establish my new business have been moved to the back burner so I can take care of myself, my family and this new addition we’re bringing into the world. And at the end of the day, I have to stay grateful for that. That’s why I included the quote above. Some days, the only thing I accomplish is taking my daughter to the park to play. And while that task seems so little, it really isn’t. She’s growing so much every day and before I know it, we won’t have whole days together because she’ll be in pre-school, then elementary school, junior high, high school and then off to college. The little things have really become the big things, I guess.

Having said all this, I have been working still and I wanted to give a quick update.

~ Last month, I attended an intense 3-day business workshop in Southern California called Fight Club (I know, maybe not wise for a pregnant woman to participate in something labeled Fight Club!). But it was so completely worth it! The workshop was put on Jeff Jochum and his company TeamX.Biz, as well as Showit, the platform and service I use for my website. Jeff’s program is really geared toward photographers, but he and the others in the group were gracious enough to let me sit in. I really cannot even come up with words to describe how great and beneficial this was for me! I learned so much from him about why I want to do weddings and I’ve already made a few small changes to my website, with many more ideas on the horizon. If you’re a wedding professional, especially a photographer, I HIGHLY suggest looking into Jeff’s workshops and coaching services. Oh, and did I mention the entire 3 days were taped, broadcast live online and watched by hundreds of people? Definitely a lesson on stepping outside of your comfort zone to better yourself and your business!

~ I recently turned 39 and decided to spend the last year of my thirties doing a 365 Days of Gratitude project, posting a picture every day of something I’m grateful for on both Instagram and my personal profile on Facebook. Feel free to follow my journey at @kmeinhardt.

~ Nesting has already set in, so I’m DIY-ing like a crazy woman! I’ve got many projects that I’ve either completed or I’m in the process of completing so I decided to feature one on the blog every Friday, beginning this week. Figured we could all use a little weekend crafting inspiration! And I’m still obsessed with Pinterest…follow me here if you are too!

Everything happens at the right time. I’m grateful for all the blessings in my life and while my business has taken somewhat of a back seat, inside I’m raring to go. Any last minute weddings for this year are unfortunately out of the question, as I’m a stickler about making sure that I can be completely available and present for the couples I work with and that just isn’t possible right now. That has been a tough pill to swallow, but necessary to accept. 2013 will be a different story, both personally and professionally, and I can’t wait!